


This Life We Lead

by M_Uchman



Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-15
Updated: 2017-08-18
Packaged: 2018-12-15 20:41:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,513
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11813796
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/M_Uchman/pseuds/M_Uchman
Summary: Chloe's father William has been killed in a car accident caused by a driver who was high on weed and other addictive substances. Instead of moving to Seattle with her parents, Max stays in Arcadia Bay to be with her best friend and help her grieve. A highly AU Pricefield romance where Max never moves to Seattle. No rewind powers or Dark Room. Rated M for future sexual themes and language.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> OK, some notes before I start this thing. This is a story that I've kind of been wanting to write for a while. It is based on the game Life is Strange, featuring most of the characters from that game. This story will also be massively AU, and it will be a Pricefield, AKA Chloe Price and Max Caulfield romance story. There will be massive changes from what is seen in the game to what actually happens in this story. I will hit on the major changes now though.
> 
> 1\. Chloe hates drugs and smoking, and never tries either of them. She will have a tattoo, but it won't be the one from the game. I thought it was much too big and wouldn't fit in with the way i'm writing her in this story. Her blue hair, however, will be the same as seen in the game, but it will be a bit less messy looking.  
> Due to her lack of drug use and smoking, her personality will be more closer to that of Max's while still retaining some (as in not much but enough that it's recognized) of her punk like attitude. Also, Chloe never gets expelled from Blackwell.
> 
> 2\. Chloe's father William dies in a car accident caused by a drug addict who was high on weed, among other drugs. The game never said what or who caused the accident he died in, and I needed a reason for Chloe to hate drugs and smoking, so there you have it.
> 
> 3\. There will be no Dark Room.
> 
> 4\. Mark Jefferson is a regular everyday photography professor. He is not the psychopath as seen in the game. Just an ordinary teacher. Jefferson's personality will be the same, minus the psycho part.
> 
> 5\. Max does not move to Seattle with her parents, and lives with the Price family. Because of that she is there to help Chloe get over her father's death, and she will always remember and be thankful for that, and it is the reason that Chloe's personality is much closer to Max's.
> 
> 6\. Joyce, Chloe's mother, is Max's godmother, she and William having been lifelong friends with the Caulfields, who are also Chloe's godparents.
> 
> 7\. Chloe and Max have known each other and been best friends since they were babies, and are only 6 months apart in age, as opposed to one year as shown in the game. They are inseparable, and do everything together, almost never leaving the others side for more than a day or two at most. They will also spend mid winter breaks and half of summer vacations in Seattle with Max's parents, and it will become something of a tradition to them. Also, in this story, both of them are more mature than their actual age, so yeah.
> 
> 8\. Chloe and Max never meet Rachel Amber, who went to different schools, but her death will be mentioned in passing at some point, probably in a blink-and-you'll-miss-it fashion.
> 
> 9\. There will not be a tornado ripping through Arcadia Bay. There will, however, be a storm and it will have been forcasted and followed by the local news stations. The most it will do is knock over trees and power lines and such, basically the damage you would expect to see from hurricane force winds.
> 
> 10\. I saved this one for last because it is perhaps the most important. No time travel/rewind/retry powers or whatever you want to call it.
> 
> There will be other changes, but most of them will be minor. So really, this barely even follows the game or the backstory for it, except for some small details like William and Rachel Amber's deaths. Also, this story starts off about 2 days after William's funeral on April 11, 2008 (the game doesn't provide exact dates so I made them up), but will also jump forward in time a lot until we catch up to the game's setting, 5 years after William's death. OK, I'm done ranting now, I promise. You're here for the story, so without further ado, onward!

**April 13, 2008**

Life sometimes just didn't seem fair. It had been two days since the funeral, and a week since William had died in a car crash caused by a speeding vehicle. They'd learned later that the driver had been high on weed, along with other assorted addictive pills and substances. The other driver was dead as well, but that didn't help any. Her father was still dead, and he wasn't coming back. It was late in the evening, and Chloe Price was home waiting for her best friend Max Caulfield. Max had said they needed to talk. Chloe hadn't wanted to at first, but this was Max, and she'd never been able to say no to her. But oh had she wanted to, because she was too ashamed at what she'd done, and terrified that she might have scared Max off for good when she needed her best friend the most. After the funeral, Max had tried to tell Chloe that her parents were moving to Seattle. She'd also tried to tell her that she was staying. Of course, Chloe didn't let her get that far. Instead she had for the first time ever blown up in her best friends face, and for two days had been guilt ridden over it. Max eventually decided she'd waited long enough and had come over and literally forced her way into Chloe's room.

"What are you doing here, Max? You shouldn't even be here." Chloe said. She was standing in the middle of her room, and Max had just closed the door to it.

"I wanted to talk." she said.

"What's there to talk about, you're moving to Seattle and leaving me to deal with all this shit by myself. It's not fair. I need you, and you're leaving me here." Chloe told her.

"I didn't say that. You weren't listening."

"Then, what? Tell me how this makes any sense, how this is supposed to be fair!"

"I said my parents were moving to Seattle, Che. My  _parents_." Max said, putting emphasis on parents the second time she said it.

"I know that already. They're moving, which means so are you, so why should I even care?"

"Chloe, I'm not going." Max said, dropping the bombshell as she'd intended to do two days ago before Chloe had effectively told her to fuck off.

"Wait, what? How can you not go? They're your parents."

"My parents talked it over with Joyce a while ago. Damn it Chloe they know how close we are, and they know seperating us right now isn't a great idea."

"So...you're really not going?"

"No! I'm staying here with you. Our parents are our godparents, you know that. You remember all those legal documents they signed last week? I wanted to tell you then but then...and so I tried to tell you two days ago, but Chloe, you scared the shit out of me." Max said. And she really had. They had never once yelled at each other like that in the 14 years they'd been best friends. She certainly understood why Chloe would have thought she was leaving, but she hadn't been given the chance to fully explain it. Chloe had told her in no uncertain terms to "fuck off and never come back", and that had been two days ago. In the end Max had summoned up the courage to come here and almost had to break down Chloe's door. She needed to be here for Chloe whether she wanted it or not, and that's what she intended to do.

"I know I screwed up. You're my best friend, we do everything together. I trust you with everything. Instead I bit your head off and you were only trying to help. I'm so sorry Max." Chloe said, crying into her friend's shoulder.

"Hey, it's OK. You're my best friend too, my pirate captain, and I would never leave you like this. I can't. You need me, I know, but the truth is I need you too, I can't just up and leave and go to Seattle as if nothing will change. I'll always be here for you, Che." Max said, continuing to hold her best friend as she continued to cry into her shoulder. After a few minutes of muttering assurances she'd calmed down. Then her mood brightened as she came to a sudden realization of what this all meant.

"Oh man this is gonna be hella fun. It's like an endless sleepover! I'm not sure we have the movies to last us that long." Chloe said.

"You do realize there's this thing called the internet? We can just go on Netflix! Enough movies and tv shows there to last forever, and they're always adding new shit to it. Trust me we'll have enough. I'm more worried about running out of popcorn." Max said, doing her best to keep a straight face. They had at this point gone to sit next to each other at the edge of Chloe's bed.

"With how much you actually eat you would be worried about that."

"Are you cereal with that? You're such a dork!"

"We're both dorks, smartass."

"Language, Chloe!" they heard from downstairs, and then gaped at each other.

"What the hell how is she even able to hear us? Does she have cameras in here or something?" Max asked.

"Oh Dog I hope not. That would be a little creepy. Who the hell puts cameras in bedrooms?" Chloe said, doing her best and failing to not look disgusted at the thought.

"That would be creepy. Oh before I forgot, I still have to tell you one more thing about me staying here. You might not like it, but I have a way to get around it, and my parents and Joyce already said yes to it. Just promise me you'll hear me out before you say anything?" Max asked.

"Whenever you say stuff like that it usually means something bad, but OK. I trust you Max. What's up?" Chloe asked.

"Well...my parents had a couple of conditions for me staying here. First, I need to text them every couple of days to let them know how I'm doing, and Joyce will be reporting on my grades from school. But...well, I have to go spend mid winter break and half of summer vacation with them every year until I graduate high school." Max said, and looked over to her friend to gauge her reaction and to check if she was going to blow up in anger, which was what she was expecting. She was surprised to find otherwise.

"I mean yeah, of course they want to see you once in awhile, I can understand that, they're your parents. It's not really fair, but it's the right thing to do. I'm gonna miss you when you're up there in Seattle, though. I wouldn't know what to do with myself without you around." Chloe said in a surprisingly calm fashion.

"And here I thought you were going to do a rage quit on me. But yeah about that...want to go to Seattle with me? During the breaks I mean."

"For cereal? That would be awesomesauce! I don't know if my mom would let me though."

"Che, I just said my parents and Joyce said yes. Pay attention, dork." Max said, trying not to smirk. Chloe always seemed to overlook important points when she made them.

"Seriously? Of course I'll go! Now we can go conquer Seattle, then come back and reconquer Arcadia Bay. That'll be so fun!" Chloe said, visibly excited to not have to spend time without her best friend.

"See, I told you. You really need to pay more attention or you'll keep missing important points like that. Wait, what did I say, what's wrong?" Max said as Chloe smiled, and then gave her a serious expression.

"Max, I'm glad you're here. That you're not leaving. Thanks for being here for me. I don't know what I'd do without you." she said, and slung an arm over her best friend's shoulder.

"I'm never going to abandon you Che. I'll be here for you, always." Max said, repeating the action and slinging her own arm over Chloe's shoulder. They would be together forever, and no one would stop them.

* * *

 

**So that's if for this first chapter. From here, we jump to 2011, 3 years later. I'm planning on having one or two chapters and maybe more, during that period and it will involve either mid minter break, summer vacation, or both. Anyway, let me know what you all think!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OK, so I have no clue whatsoever what the school vacation schedules are for schools in Oregon (or whatever school Chloe and Max are in), so I am taking my own school district's calendar and basically transplanting it into the story. The vacation dates and lengths will likely not match those of schools in Oregon, so I do apologize for that, but I do not have the time to spend researching the subject and so I'm just going to wing it and use the vacation dates and lengths from my local school district. I live out on Long Island in New York State, so like I said, vacations dates and lengths will not match those in Oregon. I just wanted to warn you in advance in case you all go "but wait, that's not right for their school" and such and etc. Also for this story, Arcadia Bay has a local domestic airport the size of Long Island MacArthur Airport, but with about 10 or so more gates. The Arcadia Bay Airport operates three low cost airlines: Southwest, Frontier, and Spirit. Don't ask me to change them, I just went to a list of low cost airlines that operate in the US and randomly picked three of them. The airport is completely fictional and unreal, so please realize that. It's here for the sake of the story and nothing else. If any of this bothers any of the readers, then you can simply not read the story. The choice is yours to make, but please don't go making comments about how it isn't realistic and how it should be this that or the other way, Arcadia Bay is a completely fictional town and so I saw no reason why it shouldn't have it's own airport for domestic travel. And now, back to your regularly scheduled story!

**February 18th, 2011**

"We really need to finish packing. We don't want to be late like last time." Max said, looking over to where Chloe was attempting to quickly get dressed as she nodded to Max, who sighed.

It had been a long road for her best friend. Three years ago her father William had died in an accident. It had taken what seemed like forever, but after about 6 months Chloe had started to come back to her normal self. Having Max there with her at every step had helped her overcome her grief and feelings of loss and depression in ways that words could never convey. Chloe had been so depressed at one point that she'd even thought about suicide. Max had found out that day and had held her in her arms as she sobbed to release her feelings. Joyce had at that point suggested Chloe see a therapist to help her heal, but Max had all but insisted that seeing a therapist would just make it worse, and that was something no one wanted. What Chloe needed was time and the presence of her family and her best friend for when she needed them most. And so that's what they did. It was now three year later, and Chloe had finally come back to her old self. Sure she still was sad every now and then and missed her father, that would never go away, but now she was happier than she had been in a long time, and Max had been a great help with that. Two years ago, Joyce had remarried to man named David Madsen. Chloe hadn't exactly taken kindly to it, believing at first that Joyce had forgotten about her and didn't care. It'd been another low point in her life. As always, Max was there to calm her down and help her see reason. David and Chloe now had a stable relationship, though Chloe still refused to call him anything resembling a father. Today though they were getting away from all that. It was Mid Winter recess for their school, and Chloe and Max were getting ready to head to the Arcadia Bay Airport to fly up to Seattle where Max's parents would be picking them up. Both girls had been going back and forth between Seattle and Arcadia Bay for the last three years every mid winter break. They also stayed half of summer vacation in Seattle, alternating which half they spent there every year. This year they were spending the second half of summer vacation in Seattle. It was a eight hour or longer bus ride to Seattle, and so Joyce and David alternated paying for the round trip flights with Ryan and Vanessa, Max's parents, each year. This year Ryan and Vanessa were paying. They always used Southwest because it was the only airline that offered a direct nonstop flight to Seattle and back. The others had layovers in Portland or some other airport.

"Enjoying the view over there, Mad Max?" Choe asked, suddenly dragging Max away from the memories she was going over in her head, and smirked at Chloe who was very slowly now putting one of her tank tops on as if to tease her. They both had recently realized their feelings for each other and had been in a relationship for the last 2 months. Joyce and David already knew about it and were fine with it, almost as if they had been expecting it for some time, but Max had yet to tell her parents. She wanted to do it in person, for Chloe to be there when she told them, and they planned to tell them during their time in Seattle.

"There was a view? I actually hadn't noticed." Max said in a teasing tone.

"Yeah, sure, keep telling yourself that. It's not like I didn't see you staring at me in the mirror." she countered, having turned around to face Max who sighed.

"I know. It's just...I don't know, I guess I'm just nervous about telling my parents about us. I mean they know you, and sure you've changed over the last three years. You have that hella awesome tattoo we designed on your shoulder and your blue hair. I really like that by the way." Max said.

"You trying to come on to me? I mean I know we've been trying to take things slow and all, I'm just saying." Chloe answered, moving to sit next to Max on the bed.

"Maybe. But we can do something about that later tonight. Right now we have to get our bags packed and into David's car. We almost missed our flight last time, and I don't feel like running through the terminal to our gate again." Max said, resting her head on Chloe's shoulder, sighing contentedly as Chloe draped an arm across her shoulders.

"Hella no, I really don't need a reminder of that. That was so embarrassing. They were calling our names over the PA system and we were literally the last to board. The whole plane was giving us looks for half the flight home. Not something I want to relive, thanks." Chloe replied, shuddering at the memory. They stayed like that for a few moments, then proceeded to pack the last of their belongings into their separate medium sized stroller bags. They had also packed their laptop, which Joyce and Vanessa had given to them last Christmas, in it's carry case along with a pair of headphones so they could watch a movie during the flight. Of course they also packed more than one movie, considering they'd kept that particular tradition of watching movies before going to bed. When they were done packing a few minutes later, they brought their bags downstairs and put them in the trunk of David's car.

"You two all ready to go? We need to be at the airport in about 30 minutes and it's a 20 minute drive. It's cutting it a little close." David said.

"Yeah sorry, we kind of lost track of the time a little bit. We really should have packed last night." Chloe said.

"I don't even want to know what that was supposed to mean. Well, go say goodbye to your mother, then we'll get going." David told her. Chloe nodded, and both her and Max went to say goodbye to Joyce.

"Hey Mom, we're going. We don't want to be late like last time." Chloe said after they found Joyce getting ready to leave for her shift at the Two Whales. They had recently bought Chloe a used truck, which she was borrowing while they were in Seattle.

"Alright you two. Now you look after each other as you always do. And don't do anything weird while you're with Ryan and Vanessa." Joyce said as she embraced Chloe and then Max in turn. Both looked at her with that deer in headlights look for a moment before Max scrunched her nose up to try to hide her embarrassment.

"Uh, yeah, OK, thanks Joyce. We'll uh...we'll be fine." Max said, still trying to keep from blushing. Chloe on the other hand had preoccupied herself with staring at the front door, which was behind Joyce.

"I know you will. Well, have a good trip, girls. I'm off to work. Make sure you either call or text me when you get there, and then at least every other day so I know you're both safe. I'll see you both when you get home next week." Joyce said, hugging both the girls one last time before heading out the door, at which point Chloe finally came out of her staring trance.

"Oh Dog, I really didn't need to hear that. That was way too embarrassing. Besides, we haven't even been doing anything like that yet. Neither of us are even ready for stuff like that. Well OK, we might be but still, that's gross for her to have mentioned it." Chloe said.

"I know, Che. Come on, David's waiting for us, we need to go or we'll miss our flight." Max said, putting an arm around Chloe's waist and leading her back to the garage where David had already started the car and opened the garage door, waiting for the girls to get in, which they did. About 25 minutes later, they arrived at the airport. Five minutes after that they had checked their bags and gotten through security. Apparently it was not a busy time of day, so the process was quick. They now had about an hour and a half to kill before their flight left.

"Hey, let's go get something to eat. My Mom gave me some spending money last night like she always does for us to use on our trips. It's basically enough for us to pay for food when we go out, and maybe to get some souvenirs or something." Chloe said as she looked up at the Flight Information Display and found their flight on the departures list. It was Southwest 8713, departing for Seattle, WA at 3:00 PM from gate A12, which was great because it was in the middle of the terminal and literally right across from the food court.

"Since when have we ever gotten a souvenir from, well, anywhere?" Max asked, as they began walking towards their gate.

"OK, I see your point. I mean we did blow all our spending money on junk food last time." Chloe said with a smirk.

"Yeah we kinda did. I have two ideas on what to spend it on, but you won't like the first one." Max told her.

"Oh no, no museums. I'm not a museum fan. I only went last time because we do everything together, even if it isn't fun. And because I know you love museums and stuff like that. Besides, I've dragged you to enough of my mosh pits and punk rock concerts and I know you only go to them because I do. It's only fair I do stuff with you that I don't like either. I mean I like museums, just not spending hours and hours in one."

"I know. I'm sorry Chlo, I kind of got over excited about the last one we went to."

"Yeah that was beyond obvious. Anyway, where do you want to eat? There's McDonald's, Hudson News that always has all that crap premade stuff, that sit in diner place and...whoa, when'd they add that place?" Chloe said, pointing to what looked like a brand new Two Whales diner. Both of them looked beyond shocked. Joyce never mentioned the diner was expanding to a new location. They knew business was going well, but not this well.

"I think our minds were just made up, don't you?" Max said, glancing over to her girlfriend.

"Hella yes! Mom didn't say anything about a new diner, but we're eating there!" Chloe said excitedly, and they made a mad dash for the new diner, and picked a booth to sit at. Most people would sit across from each other, but Max and Chloe were not most people, preferring to sit next to each other. It was just the way they had always sat together when they ate out or over at each other's houses as kids, so it was just natural for them. They spent the next 45 minutes eating and talking, trying to make plans for what they could do in Seattle in the middle of winter. Afterwards, Chloe paid the waiter and they went over to their gate, which had just started boarding. Afterwards, the plane took off from Arcadia Bay and made it's way to Seattle.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just want to point out that from this point forward, I will only be putting dates if they change by 2 or more days at any point during the story, be it during a chapter or at the start of a chapter. I also had to do some research and whatnot about Seattle, so that's why the last chapter took a while to get out. That and my current job gets me pretty tired by the time I get home leaving me little energy to write, so yeah. Also, I've decided Chloe won't have the huge tattoo she has in the game. I tried to incorporate it at some point, but I decided ultimately that it wouldn't fit right for this story, seeing as Chloe's personality will be much close to that of Max's. Instead, it will just be a regular sized (the tattoo is described in this chapter, so you'll have to imagine what "regular size" means) tattoo on her shoulder, one that will have a lot of emotion behind it, and also a lot of meaning to both Chloe and Max. Anyway, onward!

After their flight landed and they had retrieved their bags from baggage claim, they made their way to the arrivals area of the terminal of Seattle-Tacoma International Airport to wait for Max's parents, who lived about 30 minutes from the airport on Mercer Island, just outside of Seattle, but still in the metropolitan area. Max had texted them both as soon as the plane had landed. When they got outside of the terminal building after retrieving their luggage, they found that Ryan was already there waiting for them.

"Well, look who it is. Come on, let's get your bags into the car. Then we can go home and freshen up before going to dinner. That sound good to you both?" Ryan asked after embracing them both in turn, then helping both of them put their bags in the trunk of his red Toyota Camry. Chloe and Max glanced at each other, deciding that was a good plan. After being around each other for so long, they no longer needed words to tell them when the other had made a decision. They could tell just by body language alone.

"Sure Dad, that sounds great. Where's Mom, she's usually here with you?" Max asked.

"Yeah, she tried to take the afternoon off, but the office was already short staffed today. She should be home by now though. By the way, I like the hair and tattoo. When'd you have that done?" Ryan said, surprised when both Max and Chloe opted for the back seats of the car. He'd hoped that Max would sit up front with him, but shrugged it off almost instantly. He knew how close the two were, and so he should have known they'd opt to sit together, just as they always did.

"The hair probably since September. The tattoo I've had since the spring. I know it's kinda a punk look, and I'm not exactly a punk in the first place, but I wanted to try something different. I actually kind of like it. Oh and so does Max, by the way." Chloe told him honestly.

"Oh come on Che, if I didn't you'd have gotten rid of both. Besides, the hair was my idea. And of course I like the tattoo, I designed it with you, and I'm getting the same one myself soon, remember? " Max said. Chloe simply snorted and rolled her eyes. Of course she knew that. Chloe had wanted wanted a tattoo for three years. But she hadn't wanted any tattoo. She wanted it to be a symbol of her and Max's ever growing relationship, a realistically colored skull and bones with an eye patch covering one of the eye sockets and with the words "Captain & First Mate" on top and "Together Forever" on the bottom in black, bolded script. After seeing just how good it looked, Max had decided she wanted the exact same tattoo on her shoulder. They hadn't had time to do it before leaving for Seattle, and so they'd decided to have it done when they went back home.

"That is true. I guess I really shouldn't tease her this much, huh?" Chloe asked, glancing to Ryan, who had just gotten the car onto I-5. Ryan spared a glance through the rearview mirror at Chloe. He smirked a little as Max playfully punched Chloe's shoulder before returning his eyes to the road. The rest of the car ride was pretty quiet, except for Chloe and Max idly chatting about plans for the week. It didn't escape Ryan's notice just how close the two were with the way they had been acting differently towards each other from the other times they'd come up to Seattle. What Max and Chloe did on their own time was not really any of his business. They were both almost 18 now, practically adults in the eyes of the law, and both had their Oregon Driver's licenses. He, along with Vanessa, already had their suspicions about what was now going on between them both, but they refused to force a conversation like that on them. They had both known that something like this might happen, and now Ryan was seeing evidence of it. They wouldn't force them to talk about it, though. Max and Chloe, he knew, would talk to them when they were ready to do so. When they got to the Caulfield residence, they found that Vanessa was indeed already home, as evidenced by her blue Prius parked in the driveway.

"Looks like she's home. I'll take your bags, girls. You two go in and say hello to Vanessa, then go freshen up. We'll probably be heading to dinner in about an hour or so. I'll come and get you when it's time." Ryan said. They both nodded and headed inside to find Vanessa on the couch reading a magazine. Or more accurately, asleep with the magazine still in her hands. Both girls looked at each other and smirked, then quietly snuck over to the couch and jumped onto it, jolting Vanessa awake.

"Jesus, you two, don't do that!" Vanessa said after hugging both in turn.

"Sorry Mom, but we saw you sleeping and well...you know we couldn't resist." Max said.

"Yeah sorry, but the look on your face was totally worth it!" Chloe said with a wide grin on her face.

"I see the girls have pulled the old wake up call again." Ryan said as he made his way into the living room with the girls' bags.

"And it works, every time too. Thats why it's always so funny!" Chloe said as she and Max went to collect their bags.

"It really is good to see you girls again. We'll be leaving for dinner in an hour, so go on up and get settled in. Ryan will get you when it's time." Vanessa said, noticing the way Max and Chloe were holding hands as they raced up the stairs. She looked over to Ryan, who nodded, confirming her own suspicions. She had hoped Max was straight, but Max looked like she was happy the way things were going now, and in the end, that's all Vanessa wanted for her daughter.

"They'll come to us when they're ready, honey. You know they will." Ryan told her.

"I know that. I'm just surprised Joyce never mentioned this development to us. I mean she has to know about already."

"I'm sure she and David know already. And I'm sure by them telling us, it would have been an invasion of privacy, and no one wants that. We need to let them do things on their own turns. They'll be adults in the eyes of the law soon, and it's time we started realizing that and treating them as such. I mean they're already halfway through high school, and they're already talking about college. I know Max has been looking into colleges with at least double dormitory arrangements so she and max can share a room. They've even found one or two that they like that have off campus housing."

"I know, Ryan. It's just hard seeing our baby girl all grown up. And you're right, it is time to let go and let her live her life the way she wants to. We'll still always be there for her, but it's time to let her be who she wants to be. Speaking of which, what are we going to do about sleeping arrangements for them?"

"I don't see any reason to change them. They love each other. They're responsible enough, they know to keep things down when...well you see my point." Ryan replied. Vanessa nodded, and they went about their afternoon routine so as to give Max and Chloe a chance to get ready.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter done. So remember I said I'd only have one or two chapters centered around this point in the story? Well....I lied (ducks to avoid thrown rotten fruits a veggies). But wait, I have a reason! I've thought up some stuff for them to do to flesh out the mid winter break just a little bit, and to delve into a tiny itty bit of backstory for Max's parents (well OK not tiny, more like miniscule speck of sand size, but still). Anyway, enjoy!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OK, I've been kind of a jerk the last few chapters. I shall endeavor to fix that now. So I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has followed/favorited this story thus far. Also thank you to those that reviewed! Also, apologies for how long this chapter took me to get up. I've been quite busy the last couple of weeks so I haven't had a lot of time on my hands. I shall try to be a bit more consistent with updates from now on, but I make no promises. In any case, onwards with the story, and I hope you all enjoy this chapter!

After about an hour Ryan came up to get both of the girls for dinner. They then got into Ryan's car and made their way to the local diner they always visited. It didn't compare to Two Whales but the food was still good for what it was. They talked about school, how they both were keeping their grades up, some of the fun they'd had together. All things a normal family would talk about. Max's parents didn't miss all the quick glances or the fact that the girls were holding hands under the table. On the ride home they caught them cuddling in the back seat.

"Uh Mom, Dad, we uh...we need to tell you something." Max said trying not to look overly embarrassed.

"Don't worry about it, honey. We know already." Ryan said.

"Wha...? But I don't...how?!" Max asked, clearly flustered. Chloe put a hand on her shoulder to try to calm her down.

"Max, we see the way you two look at each other. Also, you both aren't as subtle as you think. We knew you were holding hands at the diner, and we saw you cuddling in the car on the way home. Of course we knew. And before you start protesting, you don't have to worry. We're both OK with it, your father and I, and we're not going to change any sleeping arrangements. We trust you both, and all we ask is that if and when you decide to...you know, at least try to keep it down. We just want you to be happy, and we know Chloe makes you happier than you would have been if you'd moved here with us. We won't take that away if that is what you both want." Vanessa said, giving her daughter a hug as Chloe stepped back and made a point of checking her phone for messages, send Joyce a quick "we're safe" text, and also to give them a moment.

"Thanks Mom. And yes, I am happy, and this is what we want." Max said, extricating herself from her mother's grasp as Chloe put her phone away and came back over to them.

"Ditto on that." Chloe said as she draped an arm around Max's waist, causing Max to blush. After a few moments, Max's parents decided to read in the common room, while Chloe and Max decided to watch a movie on Max's computer.

"I already know the answer to this, but what movie?" Max asked as she opened up a binder sized case that had at least 30 neatly sleeved DVD's in it and went in search of the movie she knew Chloe was going to pick, then pulled it out before she could answer the question.

"Your powers of mind reading must be pretty strong then, because that's exactly the movie I was going to pick." Chloe said, giving her girlfriend a playful smirk as she held the DVD for Blade Runner in front of her.

"I don't need mind reading powers, you pick this movie often enough that I just know when you'll pick it now. And it's not just that. I know you, Chloe. We've been with each other basically since birth. We've almost never been apart more than a couple of days, and we almost always took the other when we went on vacations. We watch the same movies, play the same games, have pretty much the same interests. I've always been there for you when you needed me, and you're always there for me too. I mean...you know I love you, right?" Max asked.

"Of course I know. You know I do. Where's this all coming from?" Chloe asked, suddenly very concerned by Max's change in mood.

"I don't know. I just...I wanted you to know, OK? I know you know how I feel, but I just feel like I need to keep saying it, or it'll stop being real or something." Max told her, suddenly feeling embarrassed.

"Max I...Come here." Chloe said, and Max put the DVD down and went over to sit next to Chloe on the bed, who then proceeded to wrap her arms around her.

"I'm sorry. It's just...you remember that nightmare I had a while ago about the town getting destroyed right? I kind of had it again last night. I should have told you, but I didn't want to worry you and I just..." Max started but was stopped when Chloe put a finger on her lips.

"You don't need to explain yourself to me. I knew you had a nightmare, and I knew it was probably the same one. I didn't ask partly because I knew you would tell me when you were ready, and because I didn't want to push you before you were. And you know that was only a nightmare. Nothing like that is going to happen. The town is fine, and I'm here with you. I'm never leaving you. I love you, Max." Chloe said, still holding her in her arms. They stayed like that for a few moments before Max decided to get up and go put the DVD on. Except only to be stopped by Chloe dragging her back down to her previous position before she could even take two steps.

"I know this is gonna sound weird, but I suddenly don't feel like watching a movie tonight." Chloe said, who was still worried for the girl who was once again sitting next to her on the bed.

"What, you want to go to sleep already? It isn't even 10 yet. We never go to bed this early, Che." Max said as Chloe reached over and pulled a binder out of her own bag. It took Max all of two seconds to realize what it was; a photo album. Or more specifically, their private photo album, the one they kept for themselves, never showing it to anyone. She looked at her, surprised that Chloe had brought it with them without her knowing.

"It's been a long time since we did anything with this." Chloe said, placing the album between them so they could both see it without having to move too much.

"Chloe, we just put new pictures in it this morning." Max said with a puzzling expression, wondering what her girlfriend was getting at.

"That's not what I meant. I mean it's been a long time since we just sat and looked at all the pictures in here together. I wanted to wait a couple of days, but after everything we just talked about...I just want to look at all our old pictures. I want to remember how things were, how they still are for us." Chloe said, and draped an arm around Max's waist as she opened the album. They spent a good two hours looking through it, reminiscing about every picture, some of which bringing up old memories one or both of them had forgotten about. Finally, Chloe closed the album and placed it back in her bag. Max then suddenly hugged her, slamming her lips into Chloes. After a moment, she broke away from her girlfriend, giving her a look Chloe didn't recognize at first, but after a moment understood exactly what max was telling her.

"Chloe, what I feel for you, it's beyond what words can describe." Max said, as she began to pull Chloe's clothes off slowly, but Chloe raised a hand to stop her, not sure if either of them were ready for what they were about to do. Chloe knew she was ready, but she didn't want to do anything if Max wasn't.

"Are you sure? We don't have to if you aren't ready." Chloe said.

"I am ready. I've been ready for a while now. Let me show you how much I love you, Che." Max said. She continued to undress her girlfriend, and this time Chloe didn't stop her.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two chapters in one day, you ask? What magic is this?! Yeah I know, but I've been updating the fanfiction.net version of this story more often than this one, so...I guess this is my way of saying sorry. In an case, word of caution there is some smutty NSFW content in this chapter. This is my first time writing stuff like that, me being a virgin and having no experience whatsoever and all, so let me know how I did with it, honestly, I want opinions on it so I can improve and whatnot for next time (if you thought I was only ever writing this one nsfw scene for this story, think again)! Also, before I'm asked, YES I did look up travel times from Mercer Island to GameWorks (I know it doesn't have a parking lot in reality, I added one for the sake of the story, so imagine an underground parking garage for the place), so it is a real location in Seattle. I've also looked up travel times from GameWorks to the nearest Loews Cinema, so that is accurate as well when we come to that. Thanks again for all the reviews and follows, I'm glad everyone is enjoying the story thus far! And don't worry, I do tend to reply personally to comments/reviews so you are NOT being ignored, trust me!

It was almost after noon when Max woke up the next day. She looked over to her side, where she could see Chloe, still naked, lightly sleeping as if she'd awoken earlier. She blushed a little as memories of last night's activities returned to her. She'd been waiting a while, but she was sure Chloe had been waiting longer to take that particular step. She smiled as an arm was draped over her waist, and a kiss was placed on her shoulder, indicating her girlfriend was awake. She turned over to face her and smiled again.

"Hey." Chloe said, returning the smile Max was giving her.

"Hey yourself. I can't believe we waited so long to do this. Last night was just...beyond words." Max said, draping her own arm around Chloe's waist and pulling her close.

"I know, but you're right, words don't compare. I didn't hurt you, did I?" Chloe answered in a concerned tone, still very much aware of the marks she'd left on Max's back and neck.

"The scratches maybe, but I didn't mind the biting. Maybe not so hard as to leave marks next time, though." Max said as she started blushing.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to actually hurt you!" Chloe said, a look of horror crossing her face for the briefest of moments before Max put her other hand on her cheek to stop her.

"No, you didn't really hurt me, it just stung a little is all. I'm not complaining though, I know you were waiting longer than I was, and I'm really grateful that you didn't force anything. Just...try not to scratch so deep next time. But man, I'm not looking forward to all the teasing we're going to get from my parents over this." max said as she reassured her and pointed to the hickey on her neck.

"Oh God, I really wish I'd thought of that before. I wouldn't have done it if I had. But you're right, I was a bit more eager than you were. And of course I waited, Max. I didn't want you to feel uncomfortable about doing anything. Besides, you know I won't do anything you don't want to do, don't you? And I'm not just talking about in bed either."

"I know, Chlo. I feel the same way. Just don't beat yourself up over last night. I really did like it. I like you. A lot. But you know that already."

"Yeah I do. And I know that you don't just like me. You love me, I know you do. You were moaning that and my name a lot last night. I thought that was pretty hot, by the way." Chloe said, making her blush again.

"Oh Dog, you're such a perv." Max said.

"Yeah, but I'm your perv. And I am so very in love with you. I have been since we were kids. I just never realized it until now." Chloe said honestly, which surprised Max.

"I never knew you felt that deeply about me. I wish I'd known before, because I've felt exactly the same way about you ever since we were kids too. And like you, I only just recently realized that. Maybe that's how it is for all couples who've known each other as long as we have. If there's one thing I'm sure about, its how much I love you. I'm beyond happy with you. And I'm glad I finally got to show you just how deeply I love you." Max said, bringing her free hand back to Chloe's cheek, before pressing a kis to her lips, making Chloe blush a little. Max smiled at that, as it was sometimes almost impossible for her to get Chloe to blush.

"OK, I think we've been laying here awake long enough. How about we shower, get dressed, and then go to that arcade place GameWorks we go to all the time when we're here? That was your other idea, right?" Chloe said, moving to a sitting position before putting on a bra and underwear, Max following her lead in doing the same.

"Yeah, pretty much. I knew going to a museum would bore you to death, even though you made that pretty obvious yesterday before we got here. But yeah, let's go to GameWorks for a couple hours. Then after that we can go to the movies, see that new Die Hard movie, you know the one we've been waiting for for years after the last one?" Max suggested as Chloe went to take a shower.

"Sounds like an awesome plan to me, Super Max!" Chloe called out to her through the bathroom door. Max heard the shower turn on, then decided to go and join her girlfriend in the shower, seeing as the door wasn't even locked, though Max did lock it behind her. Chloe almost fell backwards onto the floor of the shower when she heard the curtain open, caught herself, then left her mouth hanging open in utter shock as she watched Max step into the shower with her, completely naked.

"I...uhm...OK maybe this wasn't such a good idea." Max said, blushing and turning to quickly leave the shower, only to have Chloe grab her arm.

"No don't, it's OK, you just surprised me is all. Probably not the time to mention this, but I've kinda dreamt about showering with you a lot in the last couple of weeks. And I don't mean just showering." Chloe said, giving her the trademark smirk she was known for. She did not expect, however, for Max to give her a devious smirk of her own.

"Been having fantasies about me in the shower have you?" she said.

"I could tell you about them, but how about I show you instead, right now?" Chloe said, and Max lost her smirk for a split second before it reappeared.

"You really are a perv. But I love you, and I still haven't finished showing you how much." Max said, putting one hand behind Chloe's head to draw her in for a passionate kiss, and slowly inching her other hand down between her girlfriend's legs to find her center, eliciting a gasp, followed by a small moan of pleasure from her partner. She didn't stop there either, as she slid two of her fingers into her folds and started thrusting slowly at first, enjoying every moan just as much as the last.

"Max...please...faster, don't stop...oh fuck!" Chloe said between her moans of pleasure as Max continued thrusting at an ever quickening pace into her now red hot core.

"I don't know about faster, but how about this instead?" Max answered, and repositioned her had, still thrusting into her, and used her thumb to rub Chloe's clit, forcing a half growl, half moan from her.

"Oh shit, Max I'm gonna...ffffuuuucccckkkk..." Chloe moaned out, her whole body trembling as her orgasm hit her. Max slowed her thrusting for a few seconds then pulled out, giving her clit a few more rubs to prolong Chloe's high a few more seconds, placing yet another passionate kiss on her lips.

"Was that good enough for you, Chlo?" Max asked. Chloe grinned at her, and then quickly shoved her two of own fingers into Max's own now soaking wet folds. Max let out a low moan of surprise and pleasure.

"My turn, babe." Chloe said as she followed the same routine Max had just used on her, gently thrusting into her and slowly quickening the pace as time seemed to crawl forward.

"Oh Dog, yes...shit...Chllloooeeeee...!" Max forced out after a few moment as she had her own trembling orgasm. Chloe then gave her the same passionate kiss Max had given her just moments ago.

"God I love you, Max." Chloe said as she embraced her lover, who returned it in kind.

"I love you too, Che. Come on, lets actually shower now so we can go play arcade games and see that movie later tonight." Max said. This time they actually showered, taking turns washing each others bodies. After a few moments, they exited the shower, dried off and got dressed. They then made their way downstairs and out to Max's red 2010 Infiniti G37 Coupe, a gift from her parents after having received her full Oregon driver's license in the mail. Ryan worked as a lawyer in a well known Seattle firm, and Vanessa was a 4th grade teacher for the Mercer Island School District, so money wasn't exactly an issue for them. Hence the rather expensive coupe they'd surprised Max with last time they were in Seattle, and Max absolutely loved her car. She would definitely be taking it back to Arcadia Bay, or wherever she and Chloe ended up, after they both graduated high school in two years. For now though, it stayed in Seattle so they would have transportation, and her father kept the car maintained for her. A short 15 minute drive later, and they had parked in the GameWorks parking lot, ready to begin their first day, albeit late, in Seattle.


End file.
